Please critique my wooly buggers

[mike_richardson]

Please critique these buggers for me. I like to use grizzly hackle on my buggers for a little bigger shape to them. Let me know what you think.

Thanks in advance. I also tie a brown color but ran out due to my crayfish paterns.

 

[djmyers]

I think they are really looking nice. My only suggestion would be to watch the tail length. I try to follow the rule of the tail the same length of the shank.

 

[Foxgap239]

djmyers wrote:
I think they are really looking nice. My only suggestion would be to watch the tail length. I try to follow the rule of the tail the same length of the shank.

+1 otherwise, very nice

 

[Swattie87]

Good lookin' Buggers...I'd fish em. I too often fish an olive/black combo.

As far as the tail length it depends...and that's easy enough to shorten up on the stream if need be...you can't lengthen the tail streamside though so I'd error on the long side at first too.

For small, wild trout I do like a shorter tail to prevent short strikes, but I like a small Bugger (size 14) for them to start with. For stockies, larger trout, or WW fishing I like a longer tail on a size 10 or so...can't tell what exact size yours are but about the same tail to shank proportion you have here Mike.

 

[Suckerspawn]

Nice ties MR. Look fishy to me. I prefer little longer tail, keeping WB at slow retrieve will help improve the short strikes...
Use olive/black for most of my WBers. Never used white, how do they produce??

 

[MKern]

They look good to me.

There are 2 things I prefer in my buggers.
1. A fuller tail. When that boo gets wet it really compacts
2. Fuller/webbier hackle.

Other than those things, the body taper it good and the gap between the cone and body is good and the hackle spacing is perfect.

 

[mike_richardson]

White is killer for stocked fish. I like it also on clearer water. I like the black pearl looking "tinsel" bugger the best. I am big on the conehead and rarely fish without them. I like the extra weight and "fish like" appearance they give to the fly. I also love the bright olive color with a black tail. I just wanted to try the brown. I had caught a decent golden on the olive and brown scheme earlier in the year. i could not get this fish to look at nymphs for 3 days straight of messing with him. A dead drifted bugger with a twitch right by his face was the ticket. I attached to picture to scale the size of the bugger in the fish's mouth.

I will have to post up my striper minnow patern that is all brown but has white marabout bottom, black center, and top brown tails.

These are actually size 6 or 4. I use them for large stockies most of the time. To be honest i may only fish 2 buggers per year on the trout streams. I am trying to spread out to warm water fishing as well and figured the large tail would help with bass. Their mouths are much bigger than a trout so it may not be as critical in WW.

I like a larger tail on my buggers but can see where you guys are saying the fish could just bite the tail.

 

[brain]

as mentioned, the tails are touch long, but still quite fishable.
i use red thread on all my streamers. i also use saddle hackle.

 

[just_jon]

Concur with comments regarding tail length. Good ties otherwise. I also love using grizzly saddles which I use exclusively on peacck and olive bodied buggers.

 

[dc410]

I definitely stay away from the longer tails if targeting trout. Trout attack larger prey by crippling them when they bite at the tail of the prey with their sharp teeth. The long tails would serve very well if fishing for bass, which have a totally different method of feeding than trout. Bass inhale their prey in their entirety. Really nice looking ties, I like the conehead idea. I can see where that could be very productive, partcularly in higher, off color water.

 

[delta_dog]

Nice ties! As noted tail a little long and sparse but will still fish well. Don't forget the flash! Flash can be the ticket some days ;-)

 

[wgmiller]

Fundamentally, I think the ties are good. In the larger sizes of buggers (2, 4, etc.) I prefer a bit longer tail. Big trout and warmwater fish will attack it regardless and as mentioned, it can always be shortened streamside if need be.

There are so many variations of buggers it's not even funny. In looking at yours, they appear to be fine and most certainly will catch fish.

 

[SteelheadWhisperer]

Nice buggers. Just watch the tail length.

 

[FrequentTyer]

Nice ties Mike!
I don't tie a lot of buggers, but when I do I'm in the long tail camp because I think the movement is better. I agree that your buggers might be a bit thin in the tail on a few, but the length is within reason. I do worry about the longer tails fouling the hook though. Tom Rosenbauer had a tip in his recent book "Essential American Flies" to add a loop of mono under the tail to act as a foul guard like those used on tarpon flies. It adds a step to an otherwise simple fly, and won't do anything for short strikes, but might be worth playing with if you like a longer tail.
Mike.

 

[afishinado]

For short strikers like trout, try tying your buggers short, on a longer shank hook. I found some 7x long hooks, but 6x long is very common. Helps to hook more trout on buggers and many streamers.

 

[mike_richardson]

Tried them out this weekend and had a ball. I drilled 5 or 6 and all were hooked in the corner of the mouth. No short strikes came up and all fish were under 10". Half of them caught however were on an upstream cast stripping towards me so they wouldn't hit it tail first.

I was shocked to hook these little trout on the larger hooks. Must have been hungry. Sorry for no success pics. Left my phone at home.

 

[brain]

see, the fish do not care how pretty a fly is. those could be hagered and beat, and they still would catch fish.
i catch fish on buggers that have the hackle chewed off them.

 

[mike_richardson]

good quote:

"pretty flies catch fisherman, more than trout"

 

[FrequentTyer]

mike_richardson wrote:
good quote:

"pretty flies catch fisherman, more than trout"

Bait catches fish.
Pretty flys instill confidence in fishermen that like to tie and fish pretty flys.
If your confident in your flys, then they are pretty.
And apparently your tail length was just right